The Space Between
by Joyce Malevolence
Summary: DISCONTINUED: 3 years later, after a failed attempt to reenter spirit world, Chihiro hears a rumor at school of a ghost, a spirit, a young boy in ancient robes. They say he is always asks for 'Sen'. Was their promise really just wishful thinking?
1. PROLOGUE: unspoken good bye

**The Space Between**

Disclaimer: Spirited Away is belongs solely to Hiyao Miyazaki.

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**PROLOGUE: unspoken good bye**

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The cheers faded behind her as more distance came between them and the Bathhouse. Chihiro was only aware of her feet pounding on the cobblestone road, and how Haku's steps were beating rhythmically beside her. Before she had realized how far they had run, Chihiro could see the stone frog that marked the end of the Spirit Domain. She'd been here twice before; once when she had initially stumbled into the derelict shopping district, and another time when she had tried to escape back to the human world. Back then, the steps ended at the edge of what she could only describe as an ocean. Water stretched out from her shadow to the unknown horizon, marked only by the string of lights that decorated the edge. Now, the water was gone and the luminously green field she had first crossed was back with no signs of every having been flooded.

"There's no water here, I can walk across now." Chihiro whispered as realization dawned on her.

"But I can't go any farther." Silence passed between them. It was only for a second, but a million thoughts stampeded through her mind, no her heart, as he stated his fate. In her excitement over the idea of finally going home, she had forgotten about that detail. Kohaku… Feeling his very real, very warm hand in her's had made her forget- he was a spirit, the Kohaku River. It was it's destruction that had sent him to the Spirit World. Of course he couldn't return with her- where would he return to? He had no home, he had only the Bathhouse now.

"Just go back the way you came you'll be fine-"Chihiro felt his eyes on her. She turned her head to meet them. Just as they connected, something flashed over his features. Was it worry? No, no it was… "But you have to promise not to look back- not until you've passed through the tunnel."

"What about you? What'll you do?" Haku straightened up and a confident smile played across his face.

"Don't worry- ill go back and have a Talk with Yubaba. I'll tell her I'm going to quit being her apprentice." He had meant for it to be reassuring, she knew this, but still… tears threatened to crawl along the rim of her lashes. His smile dropped a little. Haku squeezed her hand. "I'm fine- I've got my name back."

With a promise and instructions being his last words to her, Haku led her hand in front of them. Pulling her ahead he encouraged her to move down the steps, towards her parents, her life, her world.

"Now go- Don't look back." His words echoed.

The comforting warmth of his hand lingered in her palms when they finally separated. Her fingers tingled as they slid off his. Knowing her parents were waiting for her kept her feet moving, but knowing Kohaku was watching her go made her heart stop.

It was perhaps one of the most difficult things to do, not look back. She had not thought that it would be so tempting to get a last look at the place that had caused her so much grief. But at the same time, it was where she met a loving grandfather who constantly ran baths. It was where she had gained an older sister who acted tough but really wanted the best for her, who had given her a lift to the train tracks in a wash basin. It was where she met a white dragon who had a double identity. It was where she had felt so many things.

The Spirit World was not a place she could revisit and ring up on the phone. Saying good-bye here never meant "See you next time" because there would not be a next time. It really meant, "Good Bye". Haku had told her not to look back. It was because of both loyalty to her words and fear of what she might see she obeyed. Chihiro could only revisit it in her memories, and she feared that maybe, if she turned back, she would see nothing but a derelict shopping district of an abandoned theme park behind her. No, she would not taint her memories. She would immortalize them in her thoughts, from the first time she saw a strange boy on the bridge to when the same boy sent her on her way home.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Chihiro forcefully pushed them back. He had promised her- but somewhere inside, Chihiro knew that it was their wishful thinking.

Rocks slid under her feet as she climbed down the empty stream.

"Chihiro!" Her head snapped up. Her mother waved to her from by the Train Station's exit. Her father stood impatiently behind her. "Where have you been?- hurry up!"

Chihiro blinked to make sure it was real. When the image of her parents did not fade away, she ran down the hill recklessly to meet them.

It was the last few steps towards the end of the tunnel that proved to be most difficult. Chihiro clung to her mother's arm, trying to force herself to keep her eyes ahead. Why did they seem to be walking so slowly? They crept slowly towards the entrance of the station.

"We made it." Her father said ironically. Chihiro exhaled deeply, releasing the last of the air she had held since before entering the tunnel. Now, every evidence of her time at the Bathhouse was gone. Chihiro slowly turned her head towards the tunnel. She couldn't see anything.

"Will we meet again sometime?"

"I'm sure we will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Haku…

Good Bye…

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**A/N:**  
My first Spirited away fanfic. I just watched it on my computer for about the fifth time when I suddenly felt a huge need to write the "-and then" story. I wanted to start with their departing moment because it would be too difficult to keep the story feeling authentic to the movie if I just started somewhere in the middle of Chihiro's life after leaving the Bathhouse. With magic and other world's, its hard enough to really convince any reader/audience that what happened was real and not just a dream or the character's imagination after all. That's going to be a main focal theme in my fic. How magic and the spirit world is so intangible that it's sometimes easier to believe that it never happened at all. If only it weren't for that pesky magic band reminded Chihiro. Heheh, that's going to be important to remember. Also, pay close attention to the titles of each chapter; they're, dare I say, precognitive?

**Please REVIEW!** I could really use some feedback!


	2. CH 1: lit belief

**The Space Between**

Disclaimer: Spirited Away is belongs solely to Hiyao Miyazaki.

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**CHAPTER 1: lit belief**

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"Ochida, Keisuke."

"Present."

"Odaka, Harue."

"Present."

"Ogino, Chihiro."

"Here." Mr. Tanaka paused and gave Chihiro a meaningful glance. "Oh, I mean, Present." She received a curt nod.

"Onizuka, Tsubasa." He continued. Blushing lightly, Chihiro returned to staring out the window. The garden club was currently planting some new additions to the school's garden, which was situated in the center of the courtyard around which the buildings were positioned. Not a fan of math, Chihiro let her mind drift. Her eyes landed on a particularly bright assortment of flowers that one student had just brought out from the opposite building. Even from the second story, Chihiro recognized the dazzling violet and pink hues. She suddenly remembered running through a narrow trail between two walls of those same flowers, anxiously following a boy with a white robe and brilliant green eyes.

Who was he? She reached out before her as they both raced through the flowered walls. He pressed on, seemingly unbothered by the various twigs and flowers that occasionally grew out into the path. He was walking much faster than she was jogging sideways. Chihiro tried to grab the end of his white robe, but suddenly he was another ten meters ahead of her. She was losing him! He turned the corner around another wall of the purple blossoms. Chihiro's breathing became heavier. She couldn't- she couldn't lose him again- not again!

Chihiro swiped at the bushes now, and they fell apart under the force of her swings. Running full forward through what now seemed to be a maze, Chihiro desperately tried to find him amongst the leaves, which were now growing at an amazing rate, creating corners in the middle of a straight path and dying off just as quickly to make a new route. The sky above her was growing darker and dark blue clouds were rolling towards her ominously. Panic-stricken, Chihiro ran without any thought. She didn't even feel some of the branches scratching her skin as she bolted by. The air became cold and the light was disappearing. Everything was bathed in blue as the sky merged into one flat palette of navy blue. The clouds began to section off into identical square tiles, and created patterns along the deepening gray vision overhead. Preoccupied by the strange activity above her, Chihiro yelped in shock when her steps suddenly became the sharp clacks of heels on tiles, rather than the dull thud of sneakers on the dirt.

She drew her eyes back down and gasped. She was in the hall of her school again. Weak moonlight filtered through the tinted windows that lined the abandoned hall. Chihiro glanced up and down the long passage. Nobody. Wringing her hands on the hem of her shirt, she approached the window. The small city was dark. Every building's lights were out. The only tiny specks of illumination that penetrated the dark town were old fashioned paper lamps that hung from the modern ones along the streets. Chihiro breathed heavily, making a foggy cloud on the glass.

"Chihiro." Her heart stopped. Swinging around wildly, Chihiro turned to find the source of the voice. The classroom behind her opened without warning or sound. Light suddenly burst from the doorway. Chihiro shielded her eyes with her arm.

"Chihiro." Chihiro Chihiro, who was Chihiro?

"Chihiro. Chihiro." She tried to lower her arm, but the light coming from the room was too bright. It felt as if she was not meant to look at it, as if the sun was residing in that room. "Chihiro." Who is it?

"Sen." Chihiro gasped. She threw down her arm, and the light penetrated her field of vision. All she could see was a faint outline- it was a garden. Walls of purple flowers, wilting quickly under her gaze- and standing in the middle, a young man with eyes that flashed emerald.

"Ms. Ogino!" the tin ruler smacked her desk. Chihiro snapped back from her dream with a start. She jumped in surprise and fearfully turned to face the smoldering face of her math teacher. "Number 9?" he demanded incredulously. Chihiro glanced at the blackboard where she saw various numbers over some letters that accompanied ever more numbers.

"Uhm…" Mr. Tanaka huffed.

"After school Ms. Ogino…_again._" He emphasized. Chihiro groaned. She had _almost_ gone two months without having after-school detention.

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After-school detention wasn't entirely horrible. It was a just nuisance on her schedule, having to stay another hour after school. Chihiro disliked school enough having to stay there until six or seven every night to study for the High School Entrance Exams, depending on which teacher was supervising the "Optional" cram session. Detention added another hour to her sentence at school, AFTER studying, thanks to the flexible teachers at Oike Junior High.

The small room felt ancient. The walls needed a new coat of paint. Old newspapers were stacked in the corner, and forted off by several old boxes. Chihiro, Saito and Keisuke from Class 3-B were left to serve out their detention in the storage room.

"The boxes are dusty so move them to the desks by the window before you open them. When you're done unpacking the books into the shelves, mop the floors. I'll be just down the hall in the Teacher's room if you need me." Said Mrs. Hito.

"Yes'm." they choired. The teacher left the room. Chihiro started towards one of the boxes. They were indeed dusty, as if it had been dumped in the room and neglected for years. Coughing as fine particles rose into the air as she picked up the box, Chihiro made her way to the window.

'What's in this thing?' She thought painfully. The box weighed a million pounds!

"Need some help?" The other student from 3-B, Saito, picked up one end of the box.

"Oh no, you don't need to- uh, oh ok." Chihiro started, then admitted defeat and allowed him to help her ease the box onto the table. The duo moved awkwardly, avoiding touching hands under the hefty box. A cloud of dust rose up as they set it down. Chihiro waved her hand in front of her trying to clear some air. She leaned in to open the window behind the box. As she cleared the dust from her face and groped for the handle of the window, a flash of white seemed to weave between the stars in front of her, but before she could blink and confirm what she saw, it was gone. Her hand froze over the latch.

Chihiro stared at the spot in the sky where the flash seemed to have emitted from. It couldn't have been- no it was star, not-

"Is it…"

"What?" Saito was giving her an odd look. "Are you ok?"

Chihiro blushed. She must have looked ridiculous, staring off into nowhere.

"Oh! Oh, right, I'm fine! I just-" She glanced over her should, out the window again. "I guess I was just seeing things." Behind her, the other two students exchanged looks.

"You saw something?" Chihiro nodded.

"What did you see?" Keisuke asked tentatively. Chihiro paused, contemplating how she should answer.

"I don't know- something white in the sky." She decided. "It's nothing, probably just a star." Chihiro hurriedly returned to the other corner of the room, not noticing another nervous glace the two boys swapped. She couldn't exactly say she'd thought she saw a familiar white dragon. It must have been a delusion; it wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes the reflection of a cloud in a window often stopped her heart as they drove down the street. But on every occasion, Chihiro's double take would only reveal the mysterious opaque figure for what it really was; a cloud, a kite, a loose balloon…it always ended up a letdown and filled Chihiro with a familiar sense of ebbing hope.

It was strange though. Why had she dreamed of him today? Her memories of the Bathhouse and the company were fading slowly, in pieces. She hadn't been able to so vividly remember, much less dream of her time there since she was eleven. In the two years since that day in the rain, Chihiro had wrapped up that chapter of her life to be a product of a long and imaginative summer. She was tired of her heart racing every time they drove by the path that led to the old station. She was tired of sleepless nights with the face of a lost boy inscribed in her mind. Chihiro made efforts to forget the mysterious memories. But feelings could not be forgotten so easily- and a small purple band seemed to refuse to be thrown away.

They worked in relative silence. Chihiro had hoped that the other two, being from the same class would make their own conversation so that an uncomfortable silence, like that which was presently residing in the room, wouldn't occur. Unspoken thoughts seemed to fill the room. It weighed down the air. The tension between the two boys was heavy with anticipation. Chihiro, thinking that maybe the two have had a fight of sorts, didn't want to intervene by talking. Chihiro wasn't an introverted personality, but it took time for her to really feel comfortable with other people, especially boys. Those who paid her too much attention were rewarded with an awkward silence, their affections kilted. Chihiro didn't mean to appear cold, but the fact of the matter was, her heart just didn't skip a beat for anyone, even if she made an active effort and tried to force herself to fell something for someone who looked upon her with kind eyes. The problem was, whenever she tried to return the gaze, a boy ran across her distant memory, and she wasn't even sure he really held her hand. Did he even exist?

A metallic clang rang through the hall. Saito and Keisuke jumped. Interrupted in mid-thought, Chihiro looked towards the doorway frantically.

"What was that?" She wondered aloud. She turned to the boys for an answer, and was surprised to find them huddled in the far corner of the room, farthest away from the entry to the class. "Are…you two ok?" They turned their eyes towards her fearfully.

"Ogino, get over here!" they hissed and motioned frantically. "He'll be here any minute-"

"What're you talking about? Who's coming?" She raised an eyebrow at their curious behavior but moved closer anyway to appease their wild gesturing. Keisuke pulled her down behind the desk with them.

"The Ghost." He whispered. Saito looked to the side frightfully as if saying the word would summon the subject. Chihiro gave them a dubious look.

"The ghost." She repeated. Saito and Keisuke made hysterical shushing noises.

"Shh shh! Yes! Be quiet- he doesn't say anything if he doesn't see you."

"It says something?"

"_Not_ if he doesn't _see_ you-" Keisuke emphasized. Chihiro shook her head.

"You guys are acting crazy- there's no ghost."

"No Ogino- you don't know! You haven't seen him! You don't know the warning signs! Just be quiet!"

"Oh and you do?" They nodded furiously, looked increasingly anxious to end the conversation.

"Yes! That streak you saw earlier? That's one of them- its how it always starts, around this time- now shut up, he'll hear you!" Chihiro paused. The same streak she thought was…it's a precursor of a ghost? Was it a coincidence?

"How do you know that that flash was a sign?" They gave her exasperated looks.

"Because he's been here before! We've seen him- a couple times now! He's been coming around her for at least a month."

"Maybe longer, we don't know, we've only had detentions since May." Keisuke added in a hurry.

"It always starts the same way, same time- that's how we know he's going to show up." Saito urged. Keisuke kept glancing towards the door.

"What happens?" she asked reluctantly giving in to curiosity. The boys looked at her with an expression that clearly said they'd like nothing better than if she would just stop talking. "What happens?" she repeated.

"Ogin- ahg-" Saito rubbed his head in frustration. "Ok- first there's a white streak across the sky. Then a loud crash, somewhere down the hall, in the other wing, the one you just heard."

"That could've been anything-" Chihiro started to get up, but Saito pulled her back down shushing her urgently. Keisuke shook his head to her comment.

"-and then the lights are going to kind of flicker in order, from wherever he starts from and travels with him… you cant say that's nothing."

"Well that didn't happen." Chihiro said defiantly.

"It will!" He insisted. She frowned.

"You two are just trying to scare me now. That's just a bunch of things that would happen in a movie." With that, she stood up and quickly moved away from the desk. They stumbled, startled. Without getting up they began to motion for her to return again.

"Ogino!" She shook her head.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not going to fall for some story. Ghosts, spirits- dragons-" She added, almost as a reassurance for herself rather than to counter their claim, "-they're not real. I'll prove it, I'll go find out what fell over then." Their hisses urging her to come back followed her out into empty hall. Stubbornly keeping her eyes ahead of her, Chihiro walked out of the class with a purposeful stride. She wouldn't let them make her a fool. Taking a right, with no real intention to find the source of the crash, Chihiro headed for the cafeteria downstairs. She could use a snack between moving such large boxes. She'd tell them it was a pail later.

Her footsteps echoed off the walls. Chihiro tried to move quickly, becoming a little scared despite her determination to not let the boy's story get to her. Still, she picked up her feet and walked lightly on the balls of her feet so that she wouldn't make any self-haunting sounds as she proceeded down the stairs.

The lights were still on in the school for now. They would probably shut off around nine, which was when the last of the late clubs were to leave the campus and detention students were to go home- AFTER cram session of course. Chihiro, never who liked the dark, much less a dark empty school, was for one, grateful. She hummed an unknown tune softly, and walked into the cafeteria. The vending machines in the far corner were restocked at night if she did the math right. And they also always held the best snacks, which she could never get to in time during school hours because of rambunctious boys blockading the machine at lunch time. It really wasn't fair that her homeroom was so far from the lunch room. Slightly cheered by the prospect of getting a Mango Bread, Chihiro walked briskly to the machine.

"250 yen?" Chihiro frowned and began to rustle through her pockets for a 50 yen piece. "These prices are ridiculous." She mumbled to nobody in particular. Finally managing to scrounge a 50 piece from the deep unknown of her lint filled pocket, Chihiro quickly stuffed the money in the slots of the machine. With a friendly _clink_, the vending machine coils began to whir with electricity and untangle her coveted Mango Bread when-

"Hey!" The machine suddenly went dark and lost power. Chihiro seethed. "You stupid- you, hey gimme my bread!" Angrily, she hit the plastic face of the machine, as if it would revive the power. The failed method drove Chihiro to kick the base of the contraption. Unfortunately, the indoor school shoes were quite thin in the front, and Chihiro ended up cursing softly under her breath.

"Ooo, you-" In the middle of her berating of the machine, the cafeteria lights began to wink in and out of life. Chihiro paused, straightened up. A mild current shimmied down her spine in a strangely, not UN-pleasant, familiar manner. She began to wring her hands within the lower folds of her long gym shirt, which she had been wearing since after-school. Chihiro turned around slowly, backing up against the vending machine.

She yelped when the lights faded all together, and quickly clapped her hand over her mouth. With a quick scuttle, she went around the corner of the machine and squeezed herself into a space between the machine and the tray shelf. Chihiro heard her own breaths echoing softly within her cupped hands. She sat back on her heels and held her fists together between her folded knees and her chest, breathing deeply.

"They were just trying to scare me- it's just a coincidence- they were just trying to scare me- it's just a coi-ahh!" the lights flashed back on. Chihiro had just buried her face into her closed hands and didn't realize the lights were back on until she forced herself to pry her eyes open slowly. From her vantage point, Chihiro could see the whole cafeteria. It seemed much bigger and brighter then when she had first walked in. She dully noted how high the ceilings were now that she really saw them from being so low to the ground. Feeling vastly smaller than before, Chihiro stood up slowly, still not daring to let her noisy heels fall on the tiled ground.

"What just…oh!" Chihiro flew to her feet and dashed for the door. "Saito and Keisuke-" Her heels clacked carelessly on the linoleum steps as she raced up the stairwell. As she neared the top, she could see Ms. Hito poking her head out the door to the Office. She looked up as Chihiro neared.

"Ms. Ogino, don't run in-"

"Did you see?" Chihiro burst. Ms. Hito gave her an odd expression.

"See what?" Chihiro frowned.

"Uhm…nothing, just, uh, sorry!" She took off again.

"Hey- I said no running!"

"Sorry!" Taking no measure to slow down, Chihiro quickly reached the old store room where she, Saito, and Keisuke had been carrying out their detention. She opened the doors with a loud rattle.

"Ahhh!"

"Ahh!" Chihiro bounded from the doorway and tripped onto a nearby box. The three students looked at each other in slight shock. Breathing a little heavily from her run, Chihiro got up quickly and looked around. Keisuke and Saito were half crouched on the ground and seemed to have retreated even further back and were now along the far wall.

"What-" She takes another breath, "-what happened? Was it- uhm..i mean…" Not wanting to admit her curiosity regarding the rumored ghost, Chihiro looked away. She could hear Saito and Keisuke getting up.

"Ogino?" She looked up. The boys looked pale. Just by their expressions, Chihiro knew what they were about to say.

"A-are you sure it wasn't just a student?" They nodded together.

"He can't be he…doesn't wear a uniform of any kind, they're more like-"

"Robes?" Saito nodded furiously in agreement with Keisuke, who was looking distant.

'Robes?' Chihiro furrowed her brows.

"He asked for her again." Keisuke interjected into her thoughts. She looked up and met his eyes. They were shaking slightly, still darting a little from her to the door as if he expected it to open again.

"For who?" She asked, a little fearful now. Keisuke pressed his lips together, looking reluctant to answer.

"I don't know who she is."

"Who?" Chihiro pressed again. Saito was the one who answered.

"Sen."

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**A/N**:

**NOTE**: 250 yen about 2 dollars 50 cents, which is a lot for bread from a machine I think, but my thoughts on how much a vending machine bread costs might not be (probably isn't) accurate.

**NOTE**: Shirakawa-go- It's a small mountainous city famous for it's old farmhouses and rich history. I chose this place as a setting for Chihiro's life because it is close to another famous town in the Gifa District called Takayama. Takayama is a historical city, known for its narrow streets that are lined with small shops, cafes, and restaurants. It reminded me of the little village at the foot of the bathhouse in the movie, so I thought I'd base the fic in a slightly more modern city that is still close to the historical areas. Okie Junior High's name is derived from Kyoto Okie Junior high School, which is a real school in Shirakawa-go, but I didn't want to use it so directly. Anyways…

I wonder if some people might get angry with me because of how Chihiro has changed in the last three years. I don't like it, but I think it's more realistic that over the course of three years, a person might begin to wonder, and to doubt if something so magical that happened when they were merely ten really did happen. That's the thing with magic- it's so intangible that you're not sure if its there or not, or if it ever was.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter- I really do because I creeped myself out a little writing it in the dead of the night as I usually do- not that it was very scary, but I'm a very visual person and it kept playing over in my head but with more horror film details than fantasy. I really cut out anything that implied horror so much so that this felt more like a children's movie.

Hehehe, yes i know, Haku barely has any part in this fic so far- in fact his name hasn't been mentioned since the prologue- i hope you caught that.

**CH TITLE EX(planation):** 'lit belief' refers to the flickering lights that marked the ghost's arrival as well as Chihiro's wavering belief. they were solidified when the lights flickered out then came back on full blast in the cafeteria. They were confirmed when she returned to the classroom.

**Review please!**


	3. CH 2: lucent dreams

**The Space Between**

Disclaimer: Spirited Away is belongs solely to Hayao Miyazaki.

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**CHAPTER 2: lucent dreams**

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_She shuffled through her returned clothes. Her fingertips made contact with a hard, smooth surface. Pulling it out, she produced a colorful piece of paper. _

"_My good-bye card is still here." She noted. Her voice reverberated unnaturally, as if the sound waves of her voice met obstruction all too close to her head and bounced back too soon. Contrastingly, the far off sounds of nature was muffled and dull, screened through her invisible sound barrier. "Chihiro…Chihiro- that's my name isn't it?" Chihiro turned to face him. His face was obscured by the shadows under his long bangs. Only his small satisfied smile was visible._

"_There."_

_The line seemed out of place- like an improv line interjected into a rehearsed play. It shook her. Chihiro blinked. A sensation not unlike removing a bubble from around her head washed over her body. Instantly, the hum of the wind whistling through the leaves behind her clarified. The pebbles scrabbled against each other under her sneakers with a noisy grind. Breathing in, the air smelled sweeter- like flowers, soap and hot water. This seemed all too familiar. Chihiro twisted her body around. She was squatting in front of a wall of flowers- various blossoms of purple, pink and light magenta. Holding her hands out in front of her, Chihiro realized that she was wearing something made of a salmon colored cloth of sorts. As she looked down, she confirmed that the same fabric continued through her entire outfit- some sort of work robe._

_Her eyes traveled down her sleeve, over her similarly clad leg, and over to the left. A foot wearing a sandal with white, cloth straps. She continued up, briefly passing over the hem of blue pants, drawn up to the knees and bunched together to keep them from falling back down. They disappeared under the flaps of a white robe, a violet sash holding it together at the waist. Chihiro began to breathe harder. She willed her eyes to move faster, but they seemed to take in the sight at their on leisure- trying to connect it with a bubbling memory, but finding the task difficult. _

_Abruptly, as if summoned, her gaze snapped up, and locked onto inquiring green eyes. She tried to force her vision to shift, to survey the rest of his face, but they did not budge from the emerald orbs that somehow reminded her of a lush, rolling field. The idea of such a place suddenly saddened her. It made her feel like their encounter was coming to an end._

"_While you're here you must call yourself 'Sen'." Sen? Her name?_

"_What's your name?" Chihiro managed, sensing their time coming to a close. Seeming to not have heard her, he continued as if uninterrupted._

"_If you completely forget it, you'll never find your way home." _

"_I am home." She declared, and immediately regretted. His shoulders sank an inch. He turned away her. Bending his neck, his jaw length hair fell forward, further obscuring his features. Chihiro leaned forward, curiously trying to look under his veil of hair. She heard him breathe in heavily, and slowly release it through his nose. _

"_Are…you ok?" Her hand hovered over his back, dropping down an inch and snapping up two as she contemplated patting his back awkwardly._

"_Is…there something I can do?" She felt rather than saw his ears perk. Moving his head the smallest degree to the right, Chihiro sensed he was facing the general direction of her legs._

"_..h…me…" his voice was so low, Chihiro barely registered that he had said anything at all._

"_W-what?" she stuttered. His hair rolled as he returned to his original posture, head down, face hidden._

"_Help me." He said more clearly. Chihiro leaned away a little. His hand found it's way to her's. He grasped her fingers in his palm tightly. She shivered under his touch._

"_How?" She asked tentatively._

"_Help me-" He repeated. "Help me Sen-help me find you."_

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiing … Riiiiiiiiiiiiing …_

"Chihiro honey, could you get that? I'm washing my hair right now." Chihiro's eyes snapped open, and instantaneously snapped closed as the sun seared the surface. Rolling over with her back to the sun, she covered her eyes with her hands, urging more soothing darkness to take away the biting sting under her eyelids. Her thumbs touched something moist. Cracking open her eyes to a merciful slit, Chihiro peered at her hands that she now held a few inches away.

"Tears?"

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiing … Riiiiiiiiiiiiing …_

"Chihiro- honey, the phone- I'm washing up- could you get that?" Chihiro glared at the wall that she knew to be in the general direction of her mother, all thought about the curious presence of tears gone.

"You're not washing up-" she argued futilely.

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiing … Riiiiiiiiiiiiing …_

"Well, I can't pick it up, I'm sleeping." She mumbled to herself. Stubbornly squeezing her eyes shut, Chihiro pulled her covers higher up over her head, simulating night. She put on a 'Deep in sleep' face with determination, as if her mother would see and conclude that, obviously, her sleeping daughter shouldn't be bothered to pick up the phone- she studies so hard!

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiing … Riiiiiiiiiiiiing …_

"Chihiro the phone!" Chihiro threw back her covers with the force of a tornado, and shuttled herself across the room. She wasn't picking up the phone because she would get in trouble if she risked another ring, she was getting up anyway- Chihiro reasoned. She snatched the phone from the receiver with haste.

"Hello?"

"Hello- who is this- Chihiro?" Chihiro rolled her eyes. It was one of her mother's associates from the design company.

"Yes." She responded blandly.

"Oh hi! This is Mr. Takuya- do you remember me?"

"Yes."

"Haha, great great- How are you? Doing well in school?"

"Yes."

"Good grades?" Chihiro contemplated telling him the awful truth- but that would make for a longer conversation.

"Uh…yes."

"Oh, that's good…yes…is your mother home?"

"Onemomentplease." She blurted- eager to switch the phone over. Holding her thumb over the mouthpiece, Chihiro ambled down the hall, rubbing the premature sleep from her eyes.

"Mom- the phone." She said, holding the phone out to the bathroom door. She heard her mother sigh, and shut off the water. She stepped out with a shower cap on her head, and a towel hastily wrapped around her. Drying her hands quickly she took the phone.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know." Chihiro shrugged, and left the room. She shuffled lazily into the kitchen. The sun glared through the window, causing Chihiro to squint against the light. Outside, her neighbor, Mrs.Yamata, had risen early to plant more Begonias to her already expansive yard, that was now toeing the property line, Chihiro noted dully.

Her mind drifted to the dream she had had the night before. Unsurprisingly she was talking to the mysterious boy in blue robes again. He appeared often in her dreams, which occurred as often as he made appearances. In fact, Chihiro had not had a dream about any other subject for some time now. The dreams had even spilled over into the daytime, disrupting her thoughts at spontaneous times throughout the day. At that, they were becoming progressively longer. Though she was never the most attentive student in class, Chihiro now found that she'd drift off in one class and come back to her senses in another period.

Chihiro wondered why she would dream of a stranger she had never met almost every night. A stranger, yet familiar. His eyes, hadn't she looked into them before? She shook her head. Impossible.

Chihiro hadn't realized she had been staring until the sudden movement of Mrs. Yamata's hand waving at her. Shocked from her trance, she nearly dropped her cup, and waved back rigidly before turning on her heel and retreating deeper into the room, away from the window.

----------

Midori Hana Road went right by the school's sports field. As Chihiro passed, she could see the soccer club diligently practicing; among them, Saito Fujita. In the weeks that have passed between her last detention and now, Chihiro did not speak to either of the two students that had been there when the alleged ghost appeared. They had detention until the end of the current week while she had none after the last. When confronted at school about what had happened, Chihiro ignored their questions. After a few attempts to talk to her had been jilted, they stopped trying.

As curious as she was about the connection between the ghost whose description matched the boy in her dreams perfectly, her sense of logic and preservation of sanity were stronger.

"There are no such things as ghosts." Chihiro muttered. Turning from the field, she walked on with a new determination to ignore the duo, and the subject at hand. The dreams were insignificant, just the results of her wild imagination combined with the stories of the supernatural.

"Chihiro-" There was quick thudding behind her. Chihiro turned to see Keisuke jogging to her from across the street. He made a small attempt at a smile as he closed the distance between them.

"What're you doing here on a Sunday?"

"Oh- just…walking…what are _you _doing here?" She returned.

"Meeting Saito after practice- tennis just finished." He said, jabbing a thumb in the direction behind him. Then there was quiet. Keisuke rubbed his hair silently. The expression on his face said he was sifting through his mind for the right words.

"Look- about the whole ghost thing-"

"Don't bother-" Chihiro interrupted. It would be a lie to say Keisuke didn't look a little crestfallen.

"I know you don't think its true- even after what happened but-"

"Keisuke-" They were past formal names, "-I didn't see anything. I don't want to think about it ok?" A picture of a trim boy with olive colored eyes came to mind.

'-even if it does happen to be a big coincidence.' She thought.

"No, I know, I just wanted to say, uhm… sorry." Chihiro looked at him in curiosity.

"Sorry?"

"Yea, well you know, about bothering you about all this after you said you didn't care about it, or believe it or anything-" He rubbed his head again. 'A nervous habit' Chihiro summed up.

"Oh…" She said to fill in the gap.

"Yea, it's just, well-" Keisuke paused for words and adjusted his glasses needlessly. "You seemed to think it was real when you came back at least."

"_A-are you sure it wasn't just a student?" They nodded together._

"_He can't be he…doesn't wear a uniform of any kind." Saito began." They're more like-"_

"_Robes?" Keisuke provided. Saito nodded furiously in agreement with Keisuke, who was looking distant and deep in thought. Looking at Chihiro, Saito found her with furrowed brows. Her skin had gone a shade paler, and she seemed to be retreating into memories._

"_He asked for her again." Keisuke spoke suddenly. Lifting his head, he met with Chihiro's eyes. Nervously, his eyes kept darting to the door. The uncanny feeling that the ghost, whoever, the boy, knew when he was being talked about always seemed to be a heavy presence in the air._

"_For who?" Chihiro asked, a hint of tension in her voice. Keisuke pressed his lips together, reluctant to answer._

"_I don't know who she is."_

"_Who?" Chihiro pressed again. Saito was the one who responded._

"_Sen." Chihiro's eyes went wide. She stumbled a foot and hit a box with her leg, then jumped as she did so._

"_He asks… for Sen?" Keisuke narrowed his eyes slightly._

"_Yea." She paled. _

"_What…what does he look like?" She asked, voice shaking unless Keisuke's ear were going bad._

"_Uh…about my height I think- if I were standing." He provided. Saito donned a reminiscing expression._

"_His hair is kind of long, to his chin maybe." _

"_-and he wears the robes all the time. Blue pants, bunched up and a long white, tunic, thing." He added. Was it just him or was Chihiro looking slightly ill now?_

"_You know someone called Sen?" She looked at him suddenly._

"_No." She answered all too quickly. With a twirl of her skirt as she spun to get to the door, Chihiro left the room._

"I guess I kind of assumed that what we said about the ghost meant something to you- the way you reacted and all. So, yea, sorry." Keisuke finished. Chihiro's mouth turned down a little. She hadn't realized her reaction to what they said about the ghost's actions and appearance had been so blatantly shocked. She couldn't even pin-point exactly why she felt that the coincidence between the ghost's description and the boy in her thoughts had any sort of connection, but it was there from time to time- when she wasn't on full alert about convincing herself otherwise. At moments when she stopped actively reminding herself that ghosts, the boy, dragons, weren't real, Chihiro felt her heart trying to tie two ends together. That's when her sense would intervene and cut the thread just as it was about to touch ends.

"Well… it's ok. I'm going to go…Bye." Chihiro wheeled away quickly, coming back the way she came. Keisuke's voice trailed after her, a little surprised with the abruptness of her exit.

"Huh? Oh. Yea, ok. Bye- I'll uh, see you at school." She barely heard him in her hurry to put distance between Keisuke and all he proposed and herself. It couldn't be real. It had nothing to do with her. A dream is a dream, and a rumor is just a rumor, and two boy's story telling is just a story. What did it matter if their character happened to look just like the boy she had been dreaming of? They must have stolen it from somewhere else, probably a movie, and she must have seen that movie a long time ago, and that must be why. The timing is just coincidence.

Satisfied with her theory, Chihiro started for home.

----------

"_Look Chihiro, there's your new school- looks great doesn't it?" Came her father's voice._

"_It doesn't look so bad." Her mother Yuuko commented. Chihiro saw her look over her shoulder to see if she had gotten up to take a look. The car rumbled on the grainy street, and Chihiro struggled to gain balance as she rolled to the right and pushed herself up. Chihiro stopped trying midway and got to the level where her eyes peered over the bristle that lined the bottom of the window. Eyes peeled half way in an uninterested and stubbornly grumpy manner, Chihiro's eyes followed the school lazily as they drove closer to it. _

_Feeling a sudden urge of bitterness, as if it was the school's fault that she had to move to the mountain town of Shirakawa-go, Chihiro stuck her tongue out at the buildings and whoever might possibly be looking her way. Chihiro felt her ears pop, and the noises of the village around them abruptly quieted. Looking at her parents in the front seat, she made out low indistinct rumblings of sounds every time they spoke. The buildings began to blur and yellow like an old photograph. Catching a glimpse of color to the right, Chihiro sat up taller._

_There it was, a speck of blue and white at the school gates. Chihiro's eyes widened. He turned around._

"_What are you doing here?" she yelled at the window. The car seemed to pick up speed. Chihiro whirled in her seta towards the front. "No- no- stop! Slow down! Dad!" Words obviously reaching deaf ears, Chihiro turned to wrestle with the unyielding door handle. Gasping with frustration, Chihiro returned to pounding on the window. They were nearly past the school now. The boy was following her car with his eyes, mouth open in surprise. He leaned forward, then took a step, then another, until he began jogging towards the car. As she felt the car speed up, so did the boy. But his efforts were futile- just when he seemed to miraculously gain on the car, the ground below him became muddy, and the sludge held onto the soles of his sandals. An expression of aggravation flashed over his features as he struggled to free himself. As the mud solidified, and Chihiro's car finally drove past the last edge of the school property, she saw his head snap up, shouting desperately, She only heard fragments, sentences cut into pieces._

"_It'…not a dream it's …Sen! -real it's re- _Oh- I guess we'll go over the rest tomorrow then- Alright, test is on Wednesday, so you have two nights to study. Review pages 134-140. Class dismissed." Chatter erupted immediately as bento boxes were produced from bags and students scrambled to get to the lunch room. Chihiro blinked and inhaled sharply, choking slightly on the sudden intake of air. The surrounding atmosphere felt cold. Chihiro put her hand to her head, and it came away with cold sweat.

'It's not a dream. it's real.' Her hands were shaking. Chihiro weaved her fingers together in an attempt to steady them. 'Could it be? Really? Had it been…was he…is he…' Chihiro bumped her head with both fists lightly.

"Come on, it's just a dream. Not even, it was a day dream." She tried to persuade herself.

'But it felt so real…I could almost hear him, I felt it.' She stilled her hands. 'I have to know.' Rising from her seat without a word, Chihiro headed towards the door. A group of girls were entering just as she reached the entry. A slim girl with a pink clip in her hair spotted Chihiro and donned a big smile.

"Oh Chihiro- let's go get lunch- I heard they have a lot of Mango Br-" Wordlessly, Chihiro marched past the group, took a left, and headed done the hall. The unacknowledged students stared after her. "What's with her?" The others shrugged.

"Maybe it's a boy thing-" The cluster giggled and 'Oooed' before continuing to the cafeteria.

"Hey Saito, Keisuke- there's someone here for youu" sang the tall student who had met her at the door. Chihiro couldn't help but blush, but this wasn't a time for that.

"Who?" Saito craned over the desk to get a better view. "Oh Chi- er, Ogino." Keisuke peered out from behind another boy with a questionable look on his face when he heard her name. Wringing her hands wistfully, Chihiro shifted her weight from one foot to the other by the door.

----------

Crouching quietly not doing much at all was apparently much more difficult than the movies led the public to believe. Chihiro's legs ached under her body weight as she sat back on her heels. It much have been at least fifteen minutes since Saito said he had seen the streak of light in the sky.

"The first sign." He had said. Now, fifteen minutes later, the expected clang of a mysterious clatter did not come.

"Are you sure you saw the white streak?" Chihiro pounded on her legs trying to relieve the aching pressure. Saito turned to her from his position up front, just behind the desks.

"Yes I'm sure- do you think I wouldn't recognize it after being haunted by it for nearly two months?" He eyeballed her then turned his attention back to the door. "It'll come." He assured them. Sighing Chihiro returned to dutifully watching the door.

When they trio had first come back to the room for the first of Chihiro's week of detention, her heart had sweated bullets every minute, straining to listen for someone point out a streak in the sky or to hear the metallic clang down the hall. The first five days had gone without event. Saito and Keisuke had warned her about this.

"He doesn't come on the dot at regular intervals or anything."

"It's really sporadic - we could go a week without him then have a week where he pops up every night. But I figure that with a week of detention, you'll have to see him once at least." Chihiro had stared at the two boys when the first told her this. It sounded like a prime excuse of a reason for which she might not see the ghost all week.

"It's true! But don't worry; he doesn't really ever skip an entire week." Keisuke had said confidently, though he looked nervous with his eyebrows knitted together.

Today was the sixth day. So far, Saito had claimed to see the white streak in the sky the night before, but when the consequential rattling never came, Chihiro began to become suspicious that he had pretended to see the streak as a desperate act after nearly a week of no ghost sightings.

Bitterness began to boil under Chihiro's skin. She had sacrificed her dignity and good reputation (except the sleeping) with the teachers to get herself into a solid week of detention as advised by the two "ghost experts", and for what- the ghost had yet to step a toe out of his spirit world. In the mean time, Chihiro had been slaving away with the still packed boxes. Apparently ghost avoidance took a lot of time and energy out of the two detention-delinquents who were supposed to have this done a long time ago. They had had detention for at a month and a half by now. The thought stuck a note in Chihiro's mind.

"Say Keisuke-"

"Mm?" he responded distantly.

"What did you and Saito do that landed you with more than a month of detention anyhow?" A chuckle emitted somewhere from her right. Saito turned to her.

"Oh- that. We only had a week at first for falling asleep in class three days in a row, but with the ghost thing- we just slacked on the work."

"They said we had to stay here as long as it takes to finish. I guess they just assumed it would take a wee-" _CLANG!_

Three heads whipped towards the door. Chihiro's breathing began to become laborious. After nearly a week of no results, she had almost forgotten why she was in detention in the first place. Now she didn't feel so prepared to possibly meet the face that had been invading her dream for weeks.

"I-is it-?"

"Yea." Silence came down on the group crouching behind the huddled desks. Feeling oddly noisy, Chihiro tried to calm her breathing to low inaudible breaths. In her attempt to block out the noise in the room, Chihiro only managed to impress utter silence upon her-self. Unable to bear the heavy quiet, Chihiro focused on the door. The door, grey with a window framing the dark hall, contrasted starkly with the walls. When had the this room become so bright anyhow?

Light soon became less of a problem. From the corner of her eye, Chihiro saw the distant flickering of the over-head lights a class or two down the hall. She heard the other two catch their breaths. It appears they noticed the strange activity as well. Chihiro clasped her hand tightly around the leg of the desk in front of her, thinking illogically that perhaps this would help slow down her heart, which was beating against her chest so hard, Chihiro wondered if it was audible to the boys. However, if they could hear it, neither of them seemed to care. Their attention was solely focused on the doorway in front of them, and the square of glass in the middle that showed the progress of flickering lights traveling up the hall. The window in the door gradually became darker as more lights turned out. Chihiro's breathing quickened analogously with the creeping darkness. This was the moment that had been haunting her for nearly a month. Distantly, Chihiro wondered if she had time to run out the classroom. A vague and tugging feeling told her to run. Waving away the logic that did not want the chance to be proven wrong, curiosity and an unnamable emotion over took her and glued her feet to the ground. Not fear, not even remote anticipation…she knew what was coming. Excitement…confirmation.

The lights just next to their classroom had shut off now. Chihiro jumped when she heard the rattle of the door to the class next door shuddering open and hitting the frame with a slam. As if on cue, Chihiro's senses shot through the roof at the same moment the door had slammed open next door. Her bubble narrowed and connected with the door, filtering out the sounds of Saito and Keisuke's excited breathing. There were sounds present she hadn't been aware of a second ago; a low echo of footsteps, the rustle of rough cloth sliding past each other, a fourth pair of lungs drawing in air slowly.

The window of the door alternated between brightness and pitch black a thousand times a second, before finally settling on darkness. Within the vast darkness, a pale glow entered from the right. Transparent blue rays filtered through the shadow. As Chihiro watched the door being hastily shoved out of the way by an unseen force, it played in her mind in slow motion, each frame exposing a little more of what she had expected, somewhere deep in her heart.

Her legs were unbending without her knowledge. She did not realize she had risen so far until an arm shot out from the darkness and pulled her back down hissing "What are you _doing_?" Her ears refused his voice though her limbs did not resist when they pulled any part of her out of view from the ghost. There was simply no energy left in her body to control how it moved. All thought, feeling and life force was currently revving in her mind, expending everything in it's arsenal to dig up old memories that had previously been filed under Imagination.

His hair was the tiniest fraction longer and would not have been noticed by anyone else but her. The robes remained frozen in time save an indiscernible character etched into the sleeve. His face was older, expression more defined- but other wise remarkably the same to the face she had so long ago denied for the sake of the ways of her own world. The face she had always known to a name that now floated up from the depths of her far off memory.

----------

**A/N: **

**Note:** mm I don't feel very good about this chapter. Not a lot happens here except for Chihiro realizing that she wanted to find out the connection between the ghost and Haku (not that she knows yet) and her actual sighting of Haku. The writing is a little forced and I think I started way too many sentences with Chihiro and She or He, but hey. Technically these are all rough drafts.

**The Phone Conversation **(right after she wakes up) Haha, it's likely that if you're a second generation Asian (This may apply to other cultures too, I wouldn't know exactly) living anywhere outside of the land of your ethnicity, you probably know what it's like to pick up the phone and have one of your parents friends make needless small talk before finally asking for the desired parent. I just wanted to put this in because **A.** I think its funny **B.** It's funny because those are almost the exact lines I use when one of my parent's friends call. (It's not like I don't speak Korean, I do, I just don't want to make conversation with a perfect stranger so early in the morning.) and **C.** I thought it would add a nice genuine touch to Chihiro's life.

**The Title:** Lucent Dreams refers to **A.** How Haku's presence is becoming weaker and more transparent, per say, in the human world- and how this affects how his presence is becoming less frequent and less powerful in Chihiro's dreams. **B.** The clarity of water- which represents Haku, in her dream. **C.** How her dreams make sense to Chihiro now.

**For those who eagerly anticipate Haku:** _Chapter Countdown to Haku's Debut _(in person)_- **2**_ CH to go! Not the next chapter but the NEXT after that

**Midori Hana Road:** a pitiful excuse of a street that I made up. It means _Green Flower Road_…are you thinking "hey man…there are no such things as green flowers…"?- WELL they say there's no such things as dragons and spirit world! There ya go!

**Saito and Keisuke:** entirely fictional characters that I have made up on a whim. I didn't expect or ever plan for them to have a big role in Chihiro's story, so don't worry about how much screen, uh, page time they're getting in this chapter…well to be fair I think they might pop up again in later chapters, but never fear, true love will not sprout between them, even if it is easier to write than a relationship between a spirit and a human… NONO stick to the story darn me! Okok!


End file.
